Winemaker Notes
Harald and Petra Hexamer run this family estate in a stone quiet section of the Nahe. Wines are fermented in a mixture of steel and large cask.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
What a seductive fruit-salad nose this animating and elegant, medium-dry Riesling has! Very clean and bright with a touch of tannin at the finish giving it structure.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2019 Riesling Quarzit is bright, pure and flinty on the stony/dusty but also charmingly fruity and very delicate picture-book nose. Round and lush on the palate, this is a charming but tensioned and grippy Riesling from Meddersheim. Due to the residual sugar, which is somewhere between medium dry and medium sweet, this is not an ascetic but tensioned and thrilling Riesling that delivers the quartzite terroir in an accessible style. The sweetness is more palatable compared to the Porphyr but for good reasons: The minor grip and complex acidity would be too challenging for a wine at this precise point. I am sure it will be fabulous after some years of bottle aging. To me, this is another picture-book Riesling form Harald Hexamer. Bottled with 11% alcohol. Tasted from AP 15 20 in January 2021.
Riesling possesses a remarkable ability to reflect the character of wherever it is grown while still maintaining its identity. A regal variety of incredible purity and precision, this versatile grape can be just as enjoyable dry or sweet, young or old, still or sparkling and can age longer than nearly any other white variety. Somm Secret—Given how difficult it is to discern the level of sweetness in a Riesling from the label, here are some clues to find the dry ones. First, look for the world “trocken.” (“Halbtrocken” or “feinherb” mean off-dry.) Also a higher abv usually indicates a drier Riesling.
